Please Note: Entry is always through an open access point and not by forcing our way in….. We are explorers, not vandals.

History
Pensionnat Catholique was a boarding school which now sits derelict in France. I cannot find much history on the school at this time other than the school was built in 1937 and the Chapel was completed in 1939. During WW2 the school was occupied by the German army, however, later in the war the American army took control of the site and gave it back to the city.

After the war the school returned to its intended use and was extended many times over the years with new wings being added. At its peak in the 1970’s there was estimated to be around 620 students. Slowly however the number of students declined and school finally closed in 2005.

My Visit
This site is huge and consists of lots of large corridors, classrooms, gym’s and a chapel. This was our last stop of the tour and we only had a few hours here as we needed to get back to the airport to catch our flight back home. I am sure we missed lots of rooms and would I love to re-visit here at some point.

Ok, on with the images...

The first area we photographed was the chapel, even though it has been stripped it is an impressive area especially with the light streaming in through the stained glass windows.

View from the top balcony into the chapel.

The chapel from the ground floor.

Looking back up to the chapel balcony where I took the first photo.

Now this is not a great photo of the stained glass but worthy of adding into the report.

Looking back into the chapel from a classroom across the hall.

As expected with this location being a school there are lots of classrooms with different styles and looks, here are a few of the rooms.

This classroom was obviously for the younger students.

A few more that look like they would have been used by the elder children.

In the room that is pictured above we found these photos on the floor. Maybe they are photos of the children who attended the school.

The next photo is of one of the dorm rooms, just before I entered here I got a smell of perfume that reminded of Incense sticks which was really weird! Each small box room had different paper on the walls.

Now this may seem a little weird but one of my favourite places from here was the loft spaces, why I hear you saying, Well I just really liked the quiet & airy feeling up here. There are many windows in the loft spaces as well that allow the sunlight in. Also the woodwork was amazing, who doesn't love a good bit of craftsmanship?

In the photo above you can see a chalkboard on the floor, here is a closer shot. I had the writing translated and it reads....

The father of our beliefs
Despite the distance (4000 km) and the time Which separate us from him, Abraham is of great interest to us.

1. his faith is a model for us
2. god calls us all with (Abraham ?)

Abraham shows us what is essential In our relation with him. To be linked to him through faith, Abraham bases his faith on an assurance which is the opposite of security

Such is the path that Abraham shows us.

(Thanks to Ines Adriaens for the translation)

So back out of the dusty loft areas we find the Gym rooms. Room one is complete with a pommel horse and spring board.

On the other side of the hall was another gym room with Parallel Bars and Balance Beam.

Here are a few mixed images to finish off the report.

More images available on flickr
The images above are just a small selection of the images I have edited. I will be adding lots more photos of Pensionnat Catholique on my Flickr page which can be found here, https://www.flickr.com/photos/119757413@N07/

Final thoughts
I really enjoyed my time here as it reminded of one of my favourite uk locations. The only down side was the short amount of time we had available. When I find myself back in the area I feel it would be rude not to go back for a second look as there is so much more to see here. Farewell for now Pensionnat Catholique I will be back.